Rotary cheese-rack.



- H. NAUMANN.

ROTARY CHEESE RACK.

APPLICATION I'ILED mm. 26, 1912.

1,028,593, Patented June 4, 1912;

felgd 'f- I v a, f (2 u w 1 HERMAN NA'UIVIANN, 0F MANITOWOC, WISCONSIN.

ROTARY CHEESE-RACK.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1912.

Application filed February 26, 1912. Serial No. 679,804.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HERMAN NAUMANN, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, have invented a Rotary Cheese-Rack, of which th following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for supporting cheese while drying, and the object which I have in view is to produce a rotary rack which will take the place of the ordinary stationary racks, and enable the cheese to be handled and set in place more readily, and more particularly to dry to greater advantage.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel design of rack which can be cheaply constructed, and is composed of a few simple interchangeable elements so arranged that the same elements may be used on different sizes of rack with only one or two or three changes of dimensions in some of the individual members.

To this end my invention comprises, first a vertical shaft; secondly, a foot-step, on which the shaft is adapted to rotate; thirdly, a bearing-ring for the upper end provided with adjustable pull-offs whereby it can be adjusted to a plumb position; fourthly, sets of radial arms corresponding in number to the rows of shelves; fifthly, vertically-movable spiders on the shaft supporting the arms and holding them in the radial position; sixthly, a set of vertical rods passing through the arms at a distance from the shaft and carrying adjustable collars to support the arms; seventhly, a cap-piece for the shaft which has a bearing for said collar, and means for attaching diagonal braces; eighthly, diagonal braces connecting the cappiece with the upper ends of the rods; ninthly, shelf-pieces in sectoral form which are individually removable and rest upon the ends of the arms; and tenthly, shelfabutments upon the arms which hold the several shelf-sections in place with respect thereto. My invention, however, does not necessarily involve all of the above-named elements.

Whereof the invention more particularly consists is hereinafter described and particularly set forth in my claims. For the better understanding of my invention I have shown an embodiment in the most improved form thereof in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a side-elevation, partly in longitudinal section, ofa complete apparatus; Fig. 2 is a partial transverse section of the same showing the arms and shelf-sections in plan, and with some of the arms and shelf-sections removed; Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are perspective views of the upper bearing-collar, the cap-piece of the shaft-spider respectively; Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively a perspective view and an end-view from the inner end of the outer shelf-abutment; Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the inner shelf abutment; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the adjustable set-collar; and Fig. 10 is a plan-view of a shelf-section.

The reference letters refer each to the same part in each figure of the drawings.

Upon a footstep a resting on and secured to the floor, as shown, is journaled an upright shaft 6, the same preferably being a piece of ordinary iron pipe. The lower end of this pipe is provided with a journal-piece a, which has a boss (shown dotted) fitting into the lower end of the pipe, and thus forming a socketed rest therefor, and the members a and 0 may be formed with runways for bearing-balls as shown. The upper end of the shaft is supported andheld in vertical alinement by means of a collar d, which has four ears 03 to which are connected pull-off rods 6, each of said rods being secured at its other end to a member f, which is fastened to the ceiling, roof, or overhead beam, as the case may be, and each of said rods 6 is provided with a turnbuckle. e The bearing-collar (Z does not bear directly upon the end of the shaft, but the latter has placed upon its end a cappiece 9, which is provided with a journal 9 for the collar (Z and a socket g to receive the upper end of the shaft, asshown in Fig. 1. This method of mounting the shaft is an important feature of my invention and offers great facility and advantage over the direct mounting which involves cutting the shaft to an exact length to fit an overhead support or providing anextensible or telescoping shaft; According to my construction it is unnecessary to cut the shaft to an exact length, but it is cut a few inches short of the height of the overhead support, and then the adjustable guy-rods can be used to draw it into exactly upright position, without any special plumbing before hand.

Upon the shaft]; are attached a number of central spiders h, each. of which. has .a

passes, and one or preferably two set-screws 71?, which are adapted to clamp the shaft to hold the spiders in any desired fixed position thereon. Each spider has a number of equably distributed radial sockets 7L (here in shown'as eight in number), in which fit the ends of the radial arms 2', which support the shelves. The bottoms of the sockets h are perforated by bolt-holes 72;, through which pass bolts 7L5, securing the ends of the arms in place.

The parts heretofore described are 0on structed of metal, but the radial arms 2' are best made of wood, not only because it is lighter, but because these element-s vary in length according to the size of rack. They are horizontally supported by means of a plurality of vertical rods 7', each rod passing through an aperture in the radial arms which lie in a vertical line, at a distance from the shaft, and just inside the shelf. These rods j are provided with collars 7a, which have set-screws whereby they may be set and clamped in place immediately under the arms to support the latter. The rods 7' are formed at their upper ends with eyes 7' with which engage the ends of diagonal braces m, whose upper ends also engage with a number of radial hooked projections 9 formed on the cap-piece g. The diagonal braces m are provided with turnbuckles m whereby their length is adjusted, and where the upper set of arms 2' are made of wood, to prevent splitting a transverse rivet 2' is placed just inside the end of each of the rods j.

The shelves n are made in sectoral form, as shown in Fig. 10, each shelf having an are equal to that between two adjacent radial arms, herein shown as of 45 degrees. The ends of these shelf-sections rest on two adjacent arms, and are guided in place by the abutment-elements o and p, the .former of which is set upon the outer end of each arm, and has a median division-plate 0 forming an abutment for the side-edge of the shelf, and a transverse abutment-plate 0 for the front edge of the shelf. The abutment-elements 0 are sufficient in themselves to hold the shelves in place, but to prevent tipping over when the excess of load is near the front edge of the shelf I provide the abutmentelements 29 which are set upon the arms 2' at the inner edges of the shelves and have overhanging-projections taking over the upper edge of the shelf and preventingsuch tipping. The shelf-sections, like the arms 2', are preferably made of wood for lightness sake, and because they are more readily cut to size, but they may be also made of cast or sheet-metal.

It wil'lbe readily seen that when the apparatus is set up, and the shelf-sections are all in place, the rack is absolutelyrigid and braced inevery direction. Individual shelfsections can be readily removed without disturbing the rigidity of the-framework. To give access to the center, as for raising and lowering any shelf, all the shelf-sections in a vertical line may be removed. It will be observed that the construction gives the greatest facility for making apparatus of different sizesand numbers of shelves without changing the dimensions of any pieces except the shelf-sections and radial arms themselves when the diameter is changed, and the lengths of the shaft and vertical rods 7' when the height is changed. Moreover, the shelves can be set at any distance apart, and can be changed from time to time as desired by merely unset-ting the clampscrews and raising or lowering the spider and collars 7c. A

It will be seen that as the shelves are open on both sides, that is, on the outer periphery, and also through the center, giving access to a drying current of air on the insides of the shelves, the cheeses will be dried equally on both sides, and very little, if any, turn ing of the individual cheeses to secure equable drying will be necessary.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to the use of allthe above described features and constructions, for some may be omitted and others may be varied 0r modified in various ways, as will readily occur to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: p

1. In a rotary rack, the combination of an upright shaft, a footstep on which the same turns, a shaft-collar at the upper end, and a plurality of pull-off members radially extending from said shaft-collar to an overhead support and adjustable as to length.

2. In a rotary rack, the combination of an upright shaft, a footstep on which the same is adapted to rotate, a cap-piece on the upper end of said shaft and having a socket therefor and a journal, a bearing-collar in which said journal turns, and a plurality of pull-oif members arranged radially with re spect to said collar and secured thereto and to a fixed overhead support, and adjustable as to length.

3. In a rotary rack, the combination of an upright rotatable shaft, a plurality of verticallyadjustable spiders thereon, each spider being provided with means for clamping it to said shaft and having a plurality of radial sockets, a plurality of radial armshaving their ends mounted in said sockets, a pluralityof vertical rods each of which passes through all of the arms in a vertical line at a distance from said shaft, a plurality of adjustable members mounted on said rods and forming rests for said arms and having means for clamping them to said plurality rods, and diagonal braces connecting the upper ends of said rods with said shaft above said spiders.

4. In a rotary rack, the combination of an upright rotatable shaft, a plurality of vertically adjustable spiders thereon, each spider being provided with means for clamping it to said shaft and having a plurality of radial sockets, a plurality of radial arms having their ends mounted in said sockets, a plurality of vertical rods each of which passes through all of the arms in a vertical line at a distance from said shaft, a plurality of adjustable members mounted on said rods and forming rests for said arms and having means for clamping them to said rods, a cap-piece mounted on the upper end of said shaft, and a plurality of diagonal brace-rods connected respectively at their lower ends to said vertical rods and at their upper ends to said cap-piece and each containing a turnbuckle whereby its length can be adjusted.

5. In a rotary rack, the combination of an upright rotatable shaft, a plurality of vertically adjustable spiders thereon, each spider being provided with means for clamping it to said shaft and having a plurality of radial sockets, a plurality of radial arms having their ends mounted in said sockets, a of vertical rods each of which passes through all of the arms in a vertical line at a distance from said shaft, a plurality of adjustable members mounted on said rods and forming rests for said arms and having means for clamping them to said rods, diagonal braces connecting the upper ends of said rods with said shaft above said spiders, and a plurality of sector-shaped shelf-sections adapted to rest on the outer ends of said radial bars.

6. In a rotary rack, the combination of a vertical shaft, a plurality of radial arms mounted thereon and extending radially therefrom, a plurality of shelf abutmentguides on the ends of said arms, each of said guides having a median division-plate, and

'a plurality of removable sector-shaped shelfsections, the edges of which are adapted to abut against said divisionplates thereby acting as lateral braces for said radial arms.

7 In a rotary rack, the combination of a vertical-shaft, a plurality of radial arms mounted thereon and extending radially therefrom, a plurality of shelf-abutmentguides mounted on the outer ends of said arms, a plurality of shelf abutment-guides mounted on said arms at the inner edges of said shelves and each having an overhang adapted to engage the upper surface of the shelves, one of said abutment-guides on each radial arm having a longitudinal median division-plate, and a plurality of sectorshaped shelf-sections having their ends resting upon adjacent radial arms and abutting against said guides whereby the shelf is held in place and the radial arms braced.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

R. BRUCE DOUGLAS,

HARRY Kon'rz.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

